Green River Whiskey Token - "Magic Token"

“Green River Whiskey” is the most famous of the 19th Century merchant advertising tokens. Most are a gold colored brass that have a small “nipple” in the center. This type of token is called a spinner in that if you place it on a table, nipple side down, you can spin it like a top.

This is the more common of the two versions of this coin. Numemista has this coin at 77%, meaning this was the most common coin of the two.

These tokens were distributed by Oldetyme Distillers, Inc. of New York City in the 1930s. Interestingly, they were advertised in magazines for magicians, which is why they’re sometimes called “Magic Tokens". Other coins like these were used as incentives to get you to buy their product.
Year: 1935
Composition: Brass
Size: Larger than a half
Obverse: Features the text “GREEN RIVER WHISKEY - THE WHISKEY WITHOUT REGRETS.”
Reverse: Displays the message “IT’S LUCKY TO DRINK GREEN RIVER WHISKEY - OLDE TYME DISTILLERS INC - NYC.”

NOTE: The Coins are not cleaned before shipping. The coin in the bottom of the photo was cleaned to show the design of the coin more clearly. We chose to not clean the coins due to collector's choice on whether they wanted to keep the patina of the coins. We suggest using neverdull to clean your coins!